We Are the Last of the Old Generations

I’ve commented before that having a computer with internet in my room is the bane of my existence, the immediate problem being that I should be putting psyche terms on notecards right now instead of blogging, but I’m going to complain about it once again because it’s such a nice segue to what I want to talk about. Irony will follow.
First, let’s start with my new hero. She’s a YouTuber with the username SupaDupaFlyGirl. Her name is Liz, or so I’ve derived. You can find her page here. I found her on the YouTube homepage as one of the featured videos. The reason she is my new hero is because she has said, simply, what I have been meaning to say for quite a while, and I found her straightforward understanding of the problem and her honest sense of incredulity to be very comforting

Let us watch.

Now, she ended the video by invoking some “intelligent conversation.” The sad part is that every other text comment on the video is some kind of crude, off-topic remark. YouTube can be a wonderful medium, but it’s hard to have intelligent conversation with idiots everywhere. That is why I have chosen to post here instead.

The first and most obvious result of what she is talking about is the plain fact that modern technology, with all of its convenience, is basically at work undermining the idea of striving for excellence which this country used to pride so much. The obvious ones to blame are, I regret to say, video games. I will be the first to say that Guitar Hero and Rockband are fun party games to have around when a lot of people are over, especially adults and girls who aren’t into video games. The problem begins when these simulators don’t stop at filling the party-nich, and what follows is a whole generation who spends hours trying to play Through the Fire and the Flames on “Expert” mode instead of putting that time into actually learning to play the guitar. People have made jokes about this, I’m sure, but I wonder how many are starting to get the whole picture. The days when people would get together and “jam” or gather around the piano to sing are fast dissolving. The reason is pretty obvious: it’s easier to play Guitar Hero than learn the guitar. One gets stimuli instantly. This, as our new friend Liz pointed out, is the basis for the problem. She notes that people have become impatient, and it’s far from a generalization. When I play the piano, sometimes it takes me a full ten minutes to first understand what it is that is going on in a single measure, then to play it so that it sounds decent. It takes time! Your modern kid doesn’t have ten minutes for a single measure. That’s something like four or five Guitar Hero songs!

On the other end of the problem is what some people have begun to refer to as “Wikipedia Scholars.” Because information is so readily available, it becomes possible to skim articles about almost anything. People can acquire so much raw information, whenever they want, that the same kind of laziness begins to prevail here, as well. Who reads books anymore? Or rather, who reads good books anymore? It’s the same problem: kids don’t have any more patience to sit down and read, and I could spend another post entirely talking about the very obvious and overwhelming benefits of reading compared to almost any other passive activity.

Okay, you might say, so people are lazier and pursue only the soft-soap kinds of excellence. That’s not too bad. At least everyone’s enjoying themselves, right? Things are fine, aren’t they? Not really. What we’re dealing with here is cultural change, and cultural change leads to change in the cultural world view.

What is our cultural worldview? Kierkegaard, as always, puts his finger on it perfectly:

“It must, in short, doubtless be rooted in the fact that on account of our vastly increased knowledge, men have forgotten what it means to exist, and what inwardness signifies.

Kierkegaard’s point is the very same one which our friend Liz raises: “Is it worth it,” she asks, ” is it worth giving up the wonderful memories of just being natural with things and not texting and not being so impatient to just have everything at your fingertips?”

Her question is more than valid: it is imperative. How our generation responds to this question will determine the face of the future world itself. Just last week my German professor told me that “anything worth having is hard.” Our parent’s generation, and every generation before it, have had a very clear notion of this. Ours does not. We may say the same things and utter the same phrases that our parents raised us on, all we’re doing is reciting. The way the world has worked for us is very different: it is an instant age, of instant everything.

But when Kierkegaard talks of inwardness, he speaks a language totally foreign to the ears of my generation. We’ve been so browbeaten with all this propaganda of being an individual, that we have grown small and shallow and narrow in it. Talking to anyone around my age will reveal the loud, artificial, and defiant “individualism” which has become so rampant. But take away the iPhones, the myspace pages, the snotty T-shirts and online roleplaying games and trashy sitcoms and shallow pop culture and what do you have? People with no sense of authenticity, no sense of belonging, no sense of purpose.

It may well be asked what the basis for individuality is. In our culture, we tend to base this on what people choose to spend their money on. And yet everyone buys stuff: I like one kind of car, you like another. We’re still not even a hundred miles from knowing anything about the individuality of either of us.

You might try to say that people are different because they have different beliefs, but their inauthenticity kills that argument pretty quickly. Your average person’s grasp on religion almost always comes down to the comfort zone of tradition, or else the equally inauthentic blind rejection of that tradition. Where are the people who have really sat down and thought about these things, who have actually tried to come to grips with the world and make sense of it? Sure, people try to make sense of the world all the time, but I’m talking about soul-searching, about the honest pursuit of an authentic self.

On a larger scale, even, is the problem that our society is becoming a fragmented society: one without a cultural identity to speak of, and certainly nothing even close to a set of cultural morals (our morally-sterile education system has pretty well gotten rid of that). Of course, no one notices these things. It’s too hard. It takes too long. What’s on TV?

The point I believe Liz is trying to make is that with the world of technology all around us, with these constant stimuli and modes of connection and artificial mediums we have no means to really sit down and develop personality at all. In real life, you go outside, you interact with people, you learns things. You learn that there are consequences for actions. You learn that if you do something dangerous, you’ll hurt yourself. You learn that if you act like a jerk, there will be equal social consequences. And with that, you learn to get along, too; to resolve differences through a real social medium. It’s so much easier to be a jerk over text simply because you are talking to a machine; the human element is only barely there. Outside in the real world, you have adventures. Thrust into new situations, you learn to improvise and innovate. Your learn to be creative and to adapt. You learn very quickly that you have a lot less power over the world than you would like, and consequently have to “play it smart” in many different ways. There is no “undo” command for life.

Without all this technology constantly keeping us busy, we might go out and do things. We might build things, make tree forts, play pirates, craft stories and role-play; we might enhance the world around us creatively, with our minds. We might make things! We might write plays or make music together or go on trips or have adventures!

We might, God forbid, have a healthy does of Life.

But why have life when we could have a nice, tame alternative through our computers and little gimmicky itoys?

I am not, however, trying to fix blame, far less am I trying to blame the government, corporations, or “the Man.” The reasons for this current cultural “mood” are complex and probably have a multitude of causes. I may deal with the matter in another post. Blaming is hardly efficient at any rate. I aim here only to raise consciousness, and to prompt some sort of solution following it.

Okay kids; know what time it is? It’s NORMATIVE time! What are we going to do?

Thanks to Liz, if you every read this; you’ve gotten me inspired. Now here’s hoping we can inspire everyone else

Stay tuned for next week, when finals are over and my long silence ends for real and we can get started on all the amazing summer projects.

See you on the flip side.

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One Response

This is a very insightful and intelligent blog and I’m afraid I can only defend Guitar Hero (and myself) because I pretty much agree with your other thoughts. Yes, you are right: it’s way easier than playing an actual guitar. And yes, you are correct: that’s the reason I play it. I’ve picked up several instruments in my time (piano, drums, cello, sitar, and bass) and I’ve come to realize that even after years of steady practice and application (recitals, orchestra, etc.), I’m simply no good at it and I don’t see the point of pursuing something that I’m bad at. Certainly, I can play competently. But no one wants to see a competent musician; they want to see someone impressive.

I hope this doesn’t find me out of line, but I find your words: “We might, God forbid, have a healthy does of Life,” a bit hypocritical. You are not a very social person. That should not imply that you are not friendly or polite. You’re quite the opposite. But, your social interactions, as far as I can tell, are limited to work, fencing, and which family members decide to show up at your house. You do not seek out social interactions; you must be invited. Or maybe you just don’t like spending time with me (which I can understand). I firmly believe that one of the best things you’ve ever done in your life is attend public high school. It’s probably a good thing that it only lasted one year, too. Otherwise, you may have ended up like myself.

Certainly we are a cultural wasteland. But, I find that there are people who are alive in little pockets here and there. If mainstream bothers you, get away from it. Fighting it is also an option, but you’re going to need an army to match their sheer numbers.